Back to the Future: The Game – Episode 1: It’s About Time! by Drake


Weapons Expert Report by: Drake 
Story/Premise
Gameplay
Impact
Visual
Audio
8.50
8.50
8.75
9.00
10.00
Overall 8.75
(not an average)
Version Reviewed: PC I’ll be honest, I did not actually see the Back to the Future movie trilogy until last year when ABC family was running marathons to promote the 25th Anniversary release of the films onto Blu-ray. Needless to say, I was disappointed in myself for taking so long to uncover this movie series. However, little did I realize at the time how perfect my timing was on watching the movies. Why, do you ask? Well, within two to three months of seeing the movies, Episode One of the Back to the Future Game was released, and while I was heavily skeptical of a sequel video game to this amazing movie series, I was soon put to ease, as was my fear of a terrible game adaption to one of the best movies out there. The game starts off with the famous scene from the first movie, where Doc is testing the DeLorean’s time-travel capabilities, but quickly we are made aware that this was all a dream and Marty wakes up. From that point on, the game hits hard, giving a heavy dose of nostalgia with plot elements like Biff, Doc’s lab, references to old adventures, the movie theme song, and even Christopher Lloyd (actor of Doc in the trilogy) returns to voice his video game counterpart. However, Michael J. Fox does not come reprise his role of Marty, though the voice actor selected in place of him is pretty spot-on. 

The story itself, as mentioned before, borrows heavily from the movies for elements of the game, but we also get some new things never before seen. The biggest is coming to 1930 to save Doc yet again from his time-travel shenanigans. Along the way we’re introduced to a slew of new characters, and a much younger version of a character we all know and love…yup, Doc Brown! 

Aesthetically this game is also very well done, with some great 3d renderings of the locations we visit, from Doc’s lab to the general feel of Hill Valley in the 1930’s, that are really pleasing to the eyes. Though, to me, that was secondary to the music. The original soundtrack returns, and I gotta say it was amazing to hear the original theme and not be riddled by some modern day version of it. 

The biggest pro for this game is the gameplay. The animation, soundtrack, acting, plot, and characters can all be top notch, but the game can really suffer from horrible gameplay, or gameplay that is difficult or not intuitive. Thankfully, neither is the case here. Using directional keys and a point and click, any gamer can enjoy this game without worrying about a learning curve to play, making it accessible for hardcore gamers and casual gamers alike, while keeping a challenging set of puzzles to solve to continue. 

All in all, this is a great start to the five-part story of an awesome game, and perfect for a rainy Saturday night, taking roughly five hours to go through and beat. At about $20.00 for all five parts on steam, you really get your money’s worth. I would honestly have been willing to shell out $20 per episode. So DEFINETLY go buy and play this game, and gear up for the remaining four installments!